


Melancholy of a Big Brother

by Floople_Doople



Category: Monster Prom (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author has some regrets, Eating Disorder (Mentioned), Gender-Neutral Character, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Here take the fic thats literally just headcanons, Hurt/Comfort, I turned a bunch of sad headcanons into a fic, Oops, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:52:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floople_Doople/pseuds/Floople_Doople
Summary: Oz was tired.So basically a friend gave me the headcanons that Oz is terrible at taking care of them self but they take care of everyone else and oops I ran away with it





	1. Chapter 1

Oz couldn't do it anymore. But at the same time, they knew(or at least thought) that they had to. They just wanted to keep their friends happy. They didn't want their friends feeling scared or sad.

For the past week or so, Oz had been eating nightmares so Vicky and Brian wouldn't have to deal with them. Of course, this also meant that Oz themself didn't-or rather, couldn't sleep. They so much of their time helping Vicky with her classes, keeping Amira in a good mood, helping Brian with his nightmares and then worrying about their own classes that they were barely able to take care of themself. And it didn't help that Oz ended up purging the nightmares they ate, emptying their body of the nutrients they desperately needed as they didn't eat anything else.

They were stressed out beyond belief, sleep deprived to the point of exhaustion, and practically starved.

But of course, Oz would be fine. They had to be. They had to be strong for their friends. No matter what.

Even when their head was spinning at the pace of one of Damien's street races and their vision kept switching from static to black to clear and then back to static. That could be ignored. Nevermind the concerned looks Brian shot them throughout class, or the worried questioning from Vicky, or even Amira's firm statements that they should stay in bed. They would be fine. They had to be strong.

They couldn't.

Vicky had been staying as close to them as she could, with her walking right next to them with a concerned look on her face. She looked ready to bombard them with more questions, though for now she was silent. Oz was grateful for that, since their head was currently very displeased with all of the noise and made their headache worse in response. Besides, they weren't even sure they'd hear the questions with how fuzzy everything sounded.

"Oz? Oz are you listening?" Vicky's voice suddenly cut through the fog in their mind, and they turned to look at her.

"Y-Yeah, I am," they said, cursing their own voice for stuttering like that.

"Are you sure? You didn't look like it...are you sure you're okay? I can get Brian to take you back to the dorms..." Vicky trailed off, gazing at them worriedly. 

"I'm sure Vicky. Don't-" they stopped.

Strange. Why did their voice suddenly stop working? And why was the world tilting like that?

"Oz? OZ?!" Vicky's worried voice was the last thing they heard before they fell unconcious, falling to the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Oz did after opening their eyes was close them again. It was too bright. Their eyes hurt. Where were they? What happened?

Last thing they remembered was walking with Vicky to the lunchroom...

Oh no.

Their eyes shot open, and they sat up in the bed they were lying in. Or at least, they would have sat up. A hand was on their chest, preventing them from sitting up.

Oz looked up and saw a familiar zombie staring down at them with a concerned but disapproving look on his face. Oz couldn't help but look away, realizing that Vicky was sleeping with her head on their bed while Amira simply slept sitting straight up in the chair. A wave of guilt washed over them while Brian simply sighed.

"Oz. Look at me," he said, concern evident in his normally deadpan voice.

Oz forced themself to look at him, and saw Brian was holding out a few crackers to them. 

"You need to eat. Your body can't function with so few nutrients." Brian continued holding the crackers for Oz to take.

They pushed Brian's hand away.

"No, I'm fine. I can only eat dreams anyway," Oz said, forcing a smile on their face.

Brian narrowed his eyes. "Either you eat these crackers or I will find a way to get you a dream to eat. You are eating something, and that's final."

Oz felt the guilt wash over them in waves. They only made everything worse. Brian was really upset. And it was their fault. They ended up taking one cracker and slowly eating it, even though their body craved more food. Brain's gaze softened a bit when he saw them eating.

"Sorry. I'm just...worried. You gave us a real scare," Brian said quietly, remembering how terrifying it had been to see Oz just collapsing. 

It spoke volumes about how much Oz needed help. Help they weren't willing to receive, but more than willing to give.

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have worried you so much." Oz looked away as they said that, opting to stare at the wall rather than see Brian's expression.

"I'm going to worry. And they are too." Brian gestured to both Amira and Vicky, the latter having stirred a bit but not quite woken up. "Amira was the one to get you to the nurse. She told me to make sure you ate something when you woke up; you're too light for it to be healthy."

And with that, Brian held out the rest of the crackers for Oz to take. And, albeit reluctantly, they did. Suddenly, they froze.

"W-Wait, how long was I-I unconcious for?" Oz asked shakily.

Brian was silent for a moment. He checked the time on his phone.

"It's about 8 am so I'd say....roughly twenty hours."

Oz stared at him. They could hardly believe it. Twenty hours. They'd been out for twenty hours. 

"...I'm sorry."

Brian barely heard it with how quietly Oz had said it. But he heard it regardless.

"'Sorry'? What are you apologizing for?" Brian asked.

"I'm sorry for allowing this to happen...I'm shouldn't have let this happen..." Oz muttered.

Brian frowned. "If what you mean is that you're sorry for letting your health get so bad, then apology accepted. Just keep an eye on your health from now on."

"N-No, I mean....I'm sorry for making you worry about me. I should've been able to deal with it on my own...I-I need to go," Oz said quietly, about to sit up again and get put of the bed when Brian simply put a hand on their shoulder.

A simple gesture that told Oz they were supposed to stay put. Oz sighed, and reluctantly stayed where they were. It looked like they were going to be stuck there for much longer than they'd like.

"Oz, listen to me. Trying to take on everyone's burdens and never sharing your own will not and never will end well. You tried shouldering everyone's issues, and you ended up unconcious in the nurse's office. At the very least, let us help you whenever you have a problem. We're friends, aren't we? Friends are supposed to help each other. I hope you know that."

Brian looked at Oz again after he finished speaking. In response, all he got was a quiet sigh. What could they even say? They wanted to insist that they'd be fine, that they could handle it, that they didn't need any help.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up here-there's a vague-ish description of someone throwing up here-thought I'd let you know.

Oz sighed, pacing around the room they shared with Brian. They'd been released from the nurse's office, only to be sent straight to the dorm and told to rest. They shouldn't-no, they couldn't rest. They had too much to do. They had their classes to catch up on, they had to make sure Vicky and Brian didn't have any nightmares, they had to help Vicky with her classes, and they had to keep Amira in a good mood. They had to keep their friends happy.

They paced the room a couple more times before eventually sitting at their desk. Might as well review what notes they had. Even if they felt tired. Eventually though, Oz decided to put their head on the desk, reasoning that they'd just wait until the tired feeling passed. Though, they ended up falling asleep in the process.

Oz woke up later to what felt like a blanket over them. At first, they didn't want to get up. Then they realized that, wait, that's definitely a blanket, and sat straight up in their chair. Sure enough, the blanket that had been placed over them fell off.

"I didn't want to wake you up. You needed the sleep," a voice said, and Oz looked to see Brian sitting on his bed, working on making what appeared to be a sweater.

"You should have! I didn't mean to fall asleep.." Oz sighed, starting to look over their notes once more.

Suddenly, there was a hand on their shoulder.

"Oz, the nurse said you were supposed to rest. So rest." And just like that, Brian had scooped up Oz in his arms and dumped them on their bed. Oz struggled to sit up.

"But-!" Oz was about to protest when they saw the look of concern Brian was giving them. Brian would not be taking any excuses Oz tried to give. "....fine."

And with that, for the first time in a long while, Oz allowed themself to fall asleep.  
\----  
Oz stared at the apple Vicky was holding out for them to take, their gaze going from the apple to Vicky's face and back to the apple.

"Er....Vicky...Why are you holding an apple in my face?" they eventually asked, genuinely confused.

"Because you need to eat! And you like healthy stuff. An apple is healthy and food!" Vicky said with a cheerful smile.

"Vicky, I'm fine. I ate earlier," Oz said in an attempt to convince Vicky they were fine.

"No you didn't! And I know! I asked Brian if you ate breakfast, and he said you didn't!" Vicky huffed.

Oz just sighed. "Vicky, I don't need to eat. I'll be fine."

Vicky frowned for a moment, thinking before her expression lit up with an idea.

"Fine, if you don't eat, then I won't eat!" She said cheerfully, seemingly not noticing how Oz seemed to do what was essentially a double take.

"What-Vicky, no! You need to eat!" Oz protested, to which Vicky simply held out the apple to them again.

"I'm only gonna eat if you do~!" She said in a sing-song tone, looking at Oz with a small smirk on her face.

Oz sighed, and reluctantly took to apple. Guess they were going to have to eat after all.

Well, at least Vicky would eat now, they thought as they took a bite of the apple.

\---------

Oz felt terrible. They shouldn't have eaten that apple, even if they did it just so that Vicky would eat. Their body was no longer used to food, and even eating one apple was too much-

They found themself racing to the bathrooms and, as they had done so many times before, throwing up everything and anything they had eaten into one of the toilets. What was different was there was a hand rubbing their back as they finished purging and a familiar voice rang through the air.

"Hey, hey, it's okay...didn't think this is what you'd be doing here...." Amira said quietly, a concerned frown on her face.

Oz felt so ashamed. How could they have let Amira see them like this? Yet they couldn't respond, couldn't come up with anything to say other than a weak cough. Amira didn't say anything else, just continuing to rub their back as she slowly helped them sit upright. Oz just wanted to push her away, but they couldn't make themself do it.

When they were sitting upright instead of slumped against the toilet, Amira spoke.

 "You alright now? Upset stomach? Or....?" She asked quietly. 

Oz shook their head. "N-No...I-I'm fine now Amira...y-you don't need to worry.."

They would have stood up, if not for the hand on their shoulder keeping them where they were. 

"Oz, I won't push you to tell me what's going on, but if you ever feel like...well, if you don't feel well, either go to the nurse, or come to me. I won't tell Brian or Vicky if you promise." Amira's voice was quiet, though Oz could hear the concern from a mile away.

"....I promise," Oz reluctantly said.

Amira smiled sadly at them, before standing up and pulling up Oz with her. 

"Good. Now, let's get you something to drink at least." And with that, she pulled Oz out of the bathrooms. They only went with it to make her happy.

Besides...it's not like they could argue with her anyway. Maybe they should just listen to her. Just maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from a monster prom amino, where I originally wrote it lol


End file.
